Hi everyone, im getting Married on 28th March 2014 and looking for some advice. my H2B is in the royal engineers and im looking to have a few military touches to the wedding like a sabre arch when we come out of the church and cutting cake with the sword. My H2B and his mates doing the sabre arch dont have their own swords and just wondering if anyone else has done this and where they got the swords from? Also any tips on when he needs to go and get his uniform fitted and apply for married quarters or any general military wedding advice would be much appreciated! these are the 3 things he is in charge of as theres nothing i can do about them being 150 miles away! thanks xx
CommentAuthorValentinaK
We're having a guard of honour, we're borrowing ours from RAFC Cranwell. They all have to be insured too. I presume he's an Officer by the nature of him wanting to carry swords as (for anyone else wanting to know) non-commissioned are not permitted to carry swords. Therefore, I suggest he contacts Sandhurst or his unit's commanding officer for advice. In terms of uniform, it should fit him anyway and if not he should have it sorted pronto! Most unit's have a tailor who normally hold a tailor's parade once a wek. I'd allow about one monty for alterations. If its just medals, about 1 week. Also, get medals court mounted as it looks better and doesn't swing all over the place. It costs more, but any officer can affod it. In terms of unifom. If hes expanded significantly since it was last fitted, it may not have any more letting out room. A new uniform (any of the ceremonial) costs £1000+. You cannot just buy new trousers or jackets where they are meant to be the same material due to slight inconsistencies in dyeing/weave. Second hand is an option but can be expensive still, especially if it neds to be altered, also the quality could be poor. Apply for married quarter s 4-6 months before your wedding . You normally get allocated one subject to availability one month before. Add me for more info. I am a serving RAF Officer as is h2b.
And we lived happily ever after!
CommentAuthorValentinaK
If you havent got insurance yet, I recommend that you do so. Have it include cancellation in event of short notice deployjent and to over ceremonial swords... its cheaper to insure them within a wedding insurance policy than seperately. We got it for both for about £160 to cover a wdding £25, 000 wedding. We're both on less than 10 days notice to move (tactical air traffic ops for me-he's a pilot) for the next 24 months so it was essential.
And we lived happily ever after!
CommentAuthorDecember
edited
My H2B is an officer but has neither no.1s or a sword :) He's hiring no.1s as it'll save us £500!!! And he's going to borrow a sword from someone in his unit. I'm sure your H2B's guard of honor guys will know someone who has a sword they can borrow? If not you can borrow them pretty easily from HQ.
The other option for no.1s is the Dead Ifficers Shop. H2B is trying their periodically for No1s as they sometimes have really good ones. But he is such a slim b*gger that I doubt they'll ever have one small enough for him! Isn't the Reme HQ near the RLC one in Camberley? If so, I don't know where the dead officers shop is, but I know it's Camberly somewhere. xx
CommentAuthorValentinaK
Did you get sorted with swords and a uniform??
If not... some good places in London that could help out!
H2b has enquired about hiring his from work and they said it will be £120 for a weeks hire so thats not too bad. and ive found a place that hires out the swords but they dont seem to want to respond to my calls/emails! so annoying!
ive got my sister in law finding out where her brother got theirs from for their wedding so fingers crossed someone gets back to me soon! hopefully wont be too much to hire and guard of honour guys actually turn up as they have a 300 mile round trip to do xx
CommentAuthorWhovianbride
yeah, when my aunty got married (they were both RAF) and had a sabre arch , and had to go from exeter to dartmouth to pick them up and was pricey and had to get insurance and then the guys had to return then once the pics etc were over before the reception
Met June 2009 on my Birthday,Met again July 2009 and got
together, May 2010 Moved in,Jan 2011 got pregnant,
August 2011 Got our own place, 2011 Had our Baby Girl,
Dec 2011 Got engaged, July 2015 Getting married! Yay!
CommentAuthorValentinaK
Oh my gosh!
We get to hire our swords for free from Cranwell on the condition they're insured (our wedding insurance covers it). H2B has his No.1s and No.5s for the evening (I have mine but obviously I am going to be wearing a beautiful white dress!) I can't believe the army don't issue them and getting the swords is such a ball ache!
And we lived happily ever after!
CommentAuthorBeckyU98
i know it such a pain trying to get that part of it organised. have to rely on H2B to organise it all i suppose - thats the worrying part lol! he is having to hire his uniform as his doesnt fit him anymore and he is still insisting on going to the gym every day and getting even bigger lol so hiring will be the best option for us i think. the only problem is that its hired for 1 week and as we are getting married at home and not at camp we will probably have to hire it for 2 weeks as going on honeymoon day after the wedding x
CommentAuthorKatherineR45
We're picking swords up from Cranwell tomorrow H2b has has a nightmare getting I surname though!
CommentAuthorValentinaK
Katherine r ... did you get yours from the cwo at chom at Cranditz? My job needs to get his arse in gear as he deploys in January or else I'll have to do It! X
